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"The Old School and the New." 



AN ADDRESS 

Delivered before the Berks County 
Teachers' Institute, 

IN THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC, 
READING, PA., 

October 26, 1908. 



BY 

LOUIS RICHARDS, Esq. 






3 D '08 



^'The Old School and the New." 

Mr. Superintendent, Teachers of Berks County, Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 
"In ever)' department of knowledge there always ex- 
ists, and, since knowledg:e is progressive, always will exist, 
old and new schools of thought. Old theories of philosophy 
and science are being constantly held up to the light of in- 
vestigation, and tested in the crucible of reason and truth. 
Throughout all this evolution of things true progress is 
impossible if it ignores certain basic conditions in human 
existence which must always be reckoned with if the nat- 
ural order is to be preserved and development shall not re- 
sult in chaos. 

"Applying this thought to the education of the intellect, 
there stands out \n characters of indelible impress the 
fundamental truth, expressive of the wisdom of ages, that 
There is no royal road to learning.' 'Nulla gloria sine 
pulvere,' said the ancients^ and the triumphs in the mental 
like those in the physical arena, are not to be attained 
without the dust, the toil and the sweat incident to the 
struggle for success in the race. This thought will fur- 
nish the keynote of what I may have to say in yc^u" pres- 
ence concerning tlie noble cause in which you are en- 
listed — the cause of public education. 

•'There is a (Uiaint interest in recalling the oddities which 
characterized the first introduction of schools into this 
State. The primitive conditions and conceptions of 
popular education which then prevailed are, in this day of 
advance in equipment and enlightenment in methods, cu- 
rious reminders of a by-gone time. The contrast between 
the past and the present is. figuratively speakmg, as that 
between the rush light and the modern incandescent. 
Were there time to do so. it would be diverting to the 
generation of teachers of today, accustomed to the en- 
vironment of modern palatial school buildings and appoint- 
ments, to picture the primitive log school houses in which 
the education of our forefathers was begun and finished. 
Neither the health nor the comfort of the pupils was con- 

5 



sidered in the construction of these juvenile penitentiaries. 
Their outfit was suggestive of the barns and stables of the 
pioneers rather than that of temples of science. The 
course of study was limited to the merest elementary 
branches, of which the three R's constituted in most cases 
the sum total. 

"Of uniformity of text books there could be none, since 
each pupil provided himself with whatever books could be 
furnished to him out of the heirlooms of the family at home. 
For the same reason recitations were conducted singly and 
not by classes. In reading, the Testament was the highest 
text book; arithmetic was usually pursued no farther than 
the four fundamental rules — the single rule of three being 
considered as the capstone of mathematical instruction. 
Grammar and geography had no place in the system, these 
being relegated to the academies and seminaries. The 
copy books, made of foolscap, began with the pot hooks 
and ended with the sentences of wisdom inscribed by the 
master, whose dutv it was to mend the pens of the imitative 
learners. Lessons were got by rote and recited from mem- 
ory, the same system being" employed with the bigger 
pupils as with the little abecedarians. The boys had the 
advantage of the superior training — such as it was — for it 
was commonlv regarded as useless to teach the girls any- 
thing more than to read, wn-ite and spell. To teach thcni 
mathematics was thought unnecessary, imprudent even, as 
tending to an unbecoming masculinity of character. The 
masters of the day — no one then heard of female teachers 
— were usually despots, and ruled by fear; impressing their 
lessons upon the backs of their pupils in order to fix theni 
more firmly in their minds. Their own acc|uirements were 
in most cases very limited, and tlieir pav proportioned to 
their qualifications. 

"Not to tarry along the picturescpie features of the early 
schools, I proceed to the subject of the institution of the 
system in our own county, as matter of local interest, as 
well as to correct some misrepresentations relative to the 
causes of Uie local opposition which it at first encountered. 
In the universal popular approval at this day of education 
at the public expense, it is easy, by citing some isolated 
facts, to pervert history to the undue disadvantage of the 
Pennsylvania Germans in their original attitude to the sys- 
tem. As T am not of their stock, T cannot be accused of a 
dis]:)Osition, arising out of racial pride, unduh' to magnify 

6 



their (|ualitic's and deeds, as a component part of the citi- 
zenship of tlie Conimonwealtli. My treatment of the suId- 
ject, therefore, is to be received, I trust, as the more im- 
partial. 

"In the Colonial period, the educational movement orig- 
inated with the Quakers, the dominant element in the set- 
tlement and government of Pennsylvania, and always fore- 
most in projects of enlightenment and philanthropy. The 
earliest seat of learning was, of course, the growing city of 
Philadelphia, where a college was founded in 1753. Up to 
the Revolutionary period schools in the rural counties were 
few and isolated. For the most part they were of parochial 
connection. In association with their meeting houses in 
Exeter, in Maidencreek and in Reading, the Friends main- 
tained schools for secular instruction open to children of 
every faith. The German immigrants who overspread this 
immediate section of the State, brought with them the pa- 
rochial school system, implanting it from the beginning in 
their church establishments in their newly-found homes. 
Principally of the Lutheran and Reformed faiths, they 
maintained, in connection with all their churches, schools 
for the young of their congregations, the primary object of 
which was to teach them to read the Bible and the cate- 
chism. With the latter in particular, the children were re- 
quired to familiarize themselves as a preliminary to confir- 
mation. The teacher was in some cases the minister, but 
more frequently the organist and clioirmaster, who com- 
monly resided upon a part of the church property. Many 
of the proprietary land grants for churches were for church 
schools as well. In som.e instances their establishment was 
aided bv public lotteries, l^lie Moravians had a school in 
Olev for both boarders and day scholars, founded in 174:3. 
The Catholics founded a school at their mission house at 
Goshenhoppen, now Bally, then in Hereford township, 
about the same time. It was undenominational, in the 
sense that, though primarily for religious instruction, the 
young of the neighborhood were admitted without regard 
to faith. The parochial schools in the Lutheran and Re- 
formed churches in Reading, in Oley, in the Tulpehocken 
region, in Richmond and ]\Iaxatawny townships were main- 
tained for some years after the inauguration of the common 
school system. 

"During the Colonial period, when the chief energies of 
the settlers v/ere employed in the clearing of the forests 

7 



and the subdnin;:^- o[ tlic soil, tlu'ir children were carU train- 
ed lo hard work, and their education was regarded as of 
little comparative importance. Illiterate themselves, their 
el'lers were indififerent to the mental training of their ofi- 
spring-. During the Revolution, when even the Courts of 
Justice suspended their regular sessions, and the resources 
of Ihe country were exhausted by frequent and heavy tax- 
ation, school instruction was necessarily in abeyance. 

"At a later period neighborhood schools sprang up here 
and there, through the liberality of individuals, who do- 
nated an acre or two of their land to trustees, to hold for 
educational use. These trustees built the school houses, 
supplied the fuel and hired some person to teach at such 
compensation as he could secure from the parents of chil- 
dren sent to him for instruction. The privilege of sending 
scholars was extended to all persons contributing a few 
shillings toward the erection and support of the school. 
The teachers were usually foreigners; itinerants of no fixed 
residence; some of them tolerably well qualified for their 
duties, and others notably deficient, or of irregular habits. 
The school terms were limited to the months in which no 
farm labor could be employed, the pupils studied what they 
liked, acquired knowledge in a desultory way, and after 
attendance of two or three winters their education was 
considered as finished. The government of the school 
was almost invariably despotic and tyrannical, and the 
elementary training which the scholars received was im- 
parted through many pains and penalties. The best teach- 
ers were the Yankees, as those from New England were 
called, and the Irish; some of the latter being educated 
men, and thorough instructors. They particularly ex- 
celled in mathematics, a branch which they taught without 
the aid of text books, where none could be procured. 
The subscription school houses, as a rule, passed at a later 
date, by legislation, into the hands of the directors of the 
common school districts. The evidence of the existence of 
many of these early schools is ascertainable only by the 
record of the land titles of the county; that of others by 
fast fading tradition. 

"In 1810 the Legislature passed an Act providing that 
all masters or mistresses of German redemptioners who 
were minors, should give them six weeks schooling for 
every year during their term of servitude, and that this 
provision should be inserted in their indentures. 



"The earliest interest displayed by the State in public 
education was evidenced in the incorporation and en- 
dowment of numerous academies. Many of these insti- 
tutions were eminently successful in their earlier periods 
and furnished an educational training equal to that ob- 
tainable in the colleges of the day. They continued to 
multiply, both before and after the estabUshment of the 
common school system. This county had a liberal share of 
them. 

"That at Reading was incorporated in 1788. It was 
liberally endowed by the State, both in money and lands. 
Its afifairs were committed to a Board of Trustees com- 
posed of leading citizens, and for some years it flourished 
under the charge of eminent instructors. Through in- 
efficiency of management, its usefulness became much im- 
paired, and in 1850 its property was sold to the Reading 
School District. In its building at Fourth and Court 
streets was established the Reading High School. In 
1834 an academy was established at Womelsdorf, in 1839 
one at Stouchsburg and another at Rehrersburg; in 1840 
one at Bernville and another at Hamburg; in 1844 one at 
Maidencreek, and in 1857 one at Friedensburg. Unincor- 
porated academies were established at Boyertown in 1822, 
at Morgantown in 1827, and at Kutztown and Unionville in 
1840. 

'"The town of Reading was well supplied with schools 
long before tlie organization of the common school system. 
In 1829 infant schools were established in the borough by 
some philanthropic ladies, for the tuition of pupils from 18 
months to 8 years of age. The charge for tuition was |1 
per quarter, and for poor children 50 cents per qliarter. 
The destitute were taught gratis. The instruction given 
was necessarily of the most elementary character, and the 
girls were taught needlework. It received some support 
from the county, and its sessions were held in the old 
county building at Fifth and Penn streets, where an un- 
denominational Sunday School had been organized about 
the same time. The history of the numerous private 
schools and seminaries in existence in Reading at different 
times during the first half of the last century would fill a 
volume, and constitute an abundant testimonial to the ap- 
preciation by this community of the value of education. 

"The forerunner of the conmion or free school system in 
this State was embodied in the act of 1809, entitled 'An act 

9 



to provide for the education of the poor gratis.' By its 
provisions the assessors of each district of the counties 
were required to return to the County Commissioners the 
names of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 whose 
parents were unable to pay for their schooling, and upon a 
report thereof, the parents were authorized to send their 
children to the most convenient school free of expense. The 
teacliers were directed to keep an account of the number 
of days such children attended, and of all stationery fur- 
nished for their use, and to render a sworn statement of the 
expense, at the usual rates of charge, to the County Com- 
missioners, which sums the latter were required to pay. 
This law was in force for a period of upwards of 25 years, 
but the distinction which it made between the rich and the 
poor nullified to a great extent its benevolent intention. 
The majority of parents who were in straitened circum- 
stances preferred keeping their children at home rather 
than accept the alms of the State for their instruction. In 
this county the law does not seem to have been so unpopu- 
lar as in many others. The county accounts for a period 
of 20 years subsequent to 1801) show expenditures for this 
piu^pose of upwards of |lo,()00. 

"This scheme was succeeded by that established by the 
law of 1834, which was the foundation of the present com- 
mon school system. Regular State appropriations were to 
be made for the support of free schools, to be condvicted 
under the management of boards of local directors, and the 
general supervision vested in the Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth, who was constituted Superintendent of Com- 
mon Schools. To become entitled to a share of the State 
appropriation each district was to collect an annual tax of 
double the amount of such share. The crucial feature of 
the system was the provision that its acceptance or non- 
acceptance was left to the voters of each district. 

"Now began the battle royal between the friends and 
foes of universal popular education. The storm of op- 
position which prevailed throughout almost the entire State 
lias rendered this the most notable epoch in its educational 
history. The poorer classes were generally in favor of the 
system, but the rich upon whom the burden of taxation 
was to rest, voted it is said with few exceptions against it. 
The scheme was denounced as aristocratic, unjust and an 
unwarrantable infringement upon private rights. It was 
certain, said some, to make the rising generation proud, 

10 



effeminate and kWe. The Legislature at its next session, 
was flooded with petitions for its repeal, but though several 
amendments were made to the act during the two suc- 
ceeding years, the system was maintained in its entirety. 

"From the report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth 
for 1835, it appeared tliat the number of school districts in 
I'crks was 34, and that of the latter two only had accepted. 
These were the borough of Reading and the township of 
Caernarvon. As evidence of the temper of the people, anti- 
school meetings were held in several sections of the coun- 
ty, at which resolutions were adopted denouncing in 
Declaration of Independence fashion the law as oppres- 
sive, unequal in its operation, creating unnecessary offices, 
trespassing upon the right of control l)y parents over the 
labor of their children, striking a dangerous blow at the 
foundation of free government, etc. At a little later date 
liberty poles were erected in some of the rural districts 
inscribed 'no free schools.' Two of the members of the 
Legislature from the county, who had voted for the law of 
1834, were defeated on that ground for re-election tbe 
following year. Politicians made profitable use of the 
popular prejudice to serve their own ends. 1'he town of 
Reading promptly put the free schools into operation, with 
a degree of success which afforded a significant object les- 
son to the people at large of the necessity of the system. 

"The attitude of the people of our county toward the 
inauguration of the common school law has often been 
made the occasion of an attack upon the citizenship of that 
day, reflecting upon their intelligence and public spirit. 
But the facts of history show most clearly that they stood 
by no means alone in their sentiment of opposition. 
Hostility to the law was well nigh general throughout the 
State. By the report of the Auditor General for 1835, it 
appears that but 1!) out of the 50 counties of Penn'a had 
accepted the school law, in whole or in part, and drawn 
their appropriations. In distant conmiunities in which the 
Penn'a German element was practically unknown the op- 
position to the law was equally violent and bitter. Of the 
petitions for repeal of the Act of 1834 presented to the 
Legislature of 1835, there were 60 from Berks and 82 from 
Lancaster, each containing upwards of 3,000 names, and 40 
from Chester, containing upwards of 2,000 names. In 
counties beyond the Allegheny Mountains the pressure for 
repeal was equally strong in particular sections. 

11 



'Thus it appears that the action of our people at that 
period was specially significant neitlier of race nor locality. 
Their arraignment therefore as conspicuous ofifenders 
against light and knowledge is manifestly undue and un- 
just. 

'"The majority of the people at large thought that the 
law of 1.S09 for the schooling of the children of the poor 
was going far enough. As has been seen, Berks county at 
that period was fairly well provided with neighborhood 
subscription schools as well as academies, and the paro- 
chial system was in full operation. Tier people's charac- 
teristic aversion to change was undoubtedly a potent fac- 
tor in shaping their action, and the new law was regarded 
even by some of its friends as a somewhat doubtful ex- 
periment. In the Legislature itself, it is to be noted, the 
Act of 1834 narrowly escaped repeal in the following year. 
It was upon this memorable date that Thaddeus Steven'^ 
made his eloquent appeal for the preservation of the 
system, in the face of the fact cited by its opponents that 
the State was in debt, and that the school appropriation 
for the first year had taken out of the treasury for the 
benefit of the few, the munificent sum of nearly 130,000 ! 

"What would the doubting legislative solons of that day 
have said could they have foreseen the time when the State 
would expend for free schools in a single year upwards of 
,f(;,()0(),000 — when the army of children attending them 
would reach 1,500,000 — when public education would not 
only be free but compulsory, and every school child be re- 
quired to be vaccinated? Surely they would have exclaim- 
ed, as with one mighty voice — 'God Save the Common- 
wealth !' 

"With reference to the resolutions adopted at this period 
at the opposition meetings held in this county, before re- 
ferred to, too much emphasis nuist not be laid upon them 
as expressions of the general popular opinion. Their 
rhetorical style seems to indicate that they were the work 
of a professional hand; possibly the same in each case. 
Whilst they were passed apparently without opposition by 
the meetings, their radical utterances may, as is not un- 
common on such occasions, have reflected the special 
animus of their authors. Some of the clergy, who were 
specially influential leaders of public opinion in the rural 
districts, and who openly declared themselves as opponents 
of the law, were influenced in their attitude by the belief 

12 



that the secular schools would impair the influence of the 
parochial. As the preaching throughout the county was 
then exclusively in the German language, they thought, 
moreover, they foresaw in the establishment of English 
schools the decline of the prevalence of the native tongue. 

"A meeting of the citizens of Reading held in the Court 
House quite as vigorously upheld the law as the harbinger 
of the poor man's rights, and repudiated the criticism that 
the working portion of the community might become too 
well informed. Within tliree weeks after the opening of 
the borough schools, 1,200 children crowded into them, 500 
of v/hom had never been in any school. In 1838 the first 
public school building in Reading was erected at the south- 
west corner of Sixth and Walnut streets, within a stone's 
throw of where we are now assembled. The County Com- 
missioners received from the State in 1835, for the use of 
the two accepting districts the sum of f3,000; the counties 
of Berks and Allegheny being entitled to the largest share 
of the fund. 

"The struggle against the school law of 1834 was pro- 
tracted, both here and in different other parts of the State 
for a period of more than 20 years, down to and beyond the 
adoption of the act of 1854. upon which the present system 
is principally based. A^arious amendments to the old law 
were in the meantime adopted, as experience suggested. 
As the great benefits of the system were demonstrated, op- 
position to it gradually abated. Township after township 
fell into line, and it was notable that some of the bitterest 
opposers of the scheme at the beginning became in the 
course of time its most ardent and sincere supporters. The 
bounty of the State increased from year to year, out of 
which the accepting districts were enabled, with the pro- 
ceeds of the local taxes, to build school houses, employ 
teachers, and demonstrate to their backward neighbors the 
practical benefits of the system. What might have been ac- 
complished in a different state of public opinion, was evi- 
denced by the fact that in the year 1848, there were still in 
the State Treasury undrawn school appropriations due to 
the county of Berks, of $82,500. In that year the Local 
Option feature of the school law was removed, and the 
system made compulsory in every district of the State. In 
some of the townships of the county directors elected re- 
fused to open the schools, as the law required, and in sev- 
eral cases applications were made to the court by the 

13 



friends of the law for its enforcement, the directors turned 
out for neglect of duty and others appointed. 

"On December 20, 1849, the first County Convention of 
School Directors was held in the Reading Academy build- 
ing, at which representatives from nine districts were pres- 
ent. John S. Richards, a member of the Bar, and a mosi 
zealous and aggressive c'nampion of the cause of puljlic 
education, presided. A committee was appointed to se- 
cure the refunding to the several districts of the undrawn 
shares of tlie State appm-^riation due to the county, then 
about to merge, by act of the Legislature into the treas- 
ury. A committee on school books was also appointed, 
and meetings of the teac'^ers suggested to be held, for 
mutual improvement in tlieir calling. The condition of 
things existing at the tine of the introduction of common 
schools into the county i« iVustrated by the fact that 300 
new school houses were f 'UMf' necessary to acconmiodatc 
the children, 200 of which were provided up to the year 
1855. 

"The election of County Superintendents provided for by 
the law of 1854, signalized a most important advance in the 
progress of the common school system. Before this no 
properly graded schools were in existence, and no ex- 
aminations into the qualifications of teachers held, other 
tlian those made by the local Boards of Directors, or by 
persons selected by them. County Institutes, local and 
district institutes and conventions of directors, which were 
subsequently inaugurated, promoted the improvement of 
the system in proportion to its rapidly increasing exten- 
sion. 

"I have been thus minute in tracing the history of public 
education in our own county in order that the youthful 
and enthusiastic teachers of today may profit by the re- 
minder of what it cost to originate and establish it. As 
administrators of the system, I trust they may also derive 
from the same source encouragement and inspiration in the 
discharge of their most important duties. Would that the 
youth of this generation in general, by whom the benefits 
of free instruction in knowledge are being enjoyed, were 
correspondingly appreciative of the value ot their inesti- 
mable privileges. 

"So much for the old schools; what of the new? With 
an experience of three-quarters of a centurv of public 
school education it might be supposed that by this time 

14 



the system would be well nigh perfect. How far have re- 
sults borne out the designs and hopes of its founders? To 
this question it would be difhcult to frame an answer satis- 
factory to the majority. There is at this time almost as 
great a divergence of views upon the science of education 
as there is upon those of theology or medicine, or the 
ever-changing platforms of political parties. Upon this 
disputed ground 1 should fear to enter, were it not for some 
very significant recent utterances of distinguished educa- 
tors, whose views are entitled to attention and respect. 

"Colonel Charles W. Larned, Professor at the United 
States MiUtary Academy at West Point, and a member of 
its Executive Board, in a paper published in the North 
American Review, referring to the results of the prelimin- 
ary examinations for admission to that institution the pres- 
ent year, cites the discouraging fact, as a test of public 
school efficiency, that out of 314 applicants examined men- 
tally, 295 of whom had been educated in the public schools 
in 10 different States, 265 failed in one or more subjects, 
209 in two or more subjects, and 26 failed in everything. 
The subjects upon which they were examined were ele- 
mentary algebra, plane geometry, Englisll grammar, Eng- 
lish literature and composition. United States history, gen- 
eral history, and geography — all included in the common 
school curriculum. The minimum mark allowed in any 
subject was 66 out of a possible 100. From Pennsylvania 11 
out of 17 failed to pass — a proportion not materially vary- 
ing from that of candidates from New York and Massachu- 
setts. 'The result,' he says, 'indicates a great weakness in 
our methods of instruction, which shows a vast waste of 
time on the part of a great portion of the student body.' 

"Said Andrew L. Draper, LL. D., Commissioner of Edu- 
cation of the State of New York, within the past two 
months, before the National Association of Educators: 
'The programmes in the elementary schools are too much 
overloaded, too crowded and too complex, and the teachers 
are overtaxed. There is too much pedagogy and too little 
teaching — too much artificial and too little real culture — 
too many text books and too many visionary appliances. A 
little information is given about everything, and no exact 
efficiency about anything. We o not lay the first course 
of the building with sufficient cx-^ctncss and strength. The 
iheorists carry associations of '.e''chers into pedagogical 
ecstacies and hysteria.' 

15 



"Said Dr. Woodrow Wilson, President of Princeton P^ni- 
versitv, in the present month, in dwelling upon the theme 
of college life: 'The courses of study in the schools have 
ceased to he courses at all, and have degenerated into a 
mixed mass of subjects, meant to serve every interest and 
every utility of modern life. The college has been given 
the same patternless variety of makeup and purpose. There 
has been a general lireakup of types and standards, and all 
consistent plans have suffered a common dissolution. It is 
not athletics which is to blame. The exaggeration of ath- 
letics is a mere incidental symptom and not the disease at 
all. Look closer and you will find scores of other organiza- 
tions; social organizations; organizations for whist, for pol- 
itics, for keeping former schoolmates together, for eating 
together, for living together, and for everything that inter- 
ests and is susceptible of organization." 

'"This is incisive language, and the sum of these opinions 
points to one conclusion, which is that the curriculum of 
the public schools has become too diversified for beneficial 
results — too profuse in the branches which more appro- 
priately belong to the college course, and — most significant 
of all — too neglectful of the elementary studies which lie 
at the basis of a good English education. The demand for 
'higher education' has, in the opinion of many, set the 
standard so high as to be beyond the reach of the averfio-e 
pupil. Like food, education, to be serviceable, nuist be 
assimilated. The doctors tell us that all the food we take 
that cannot 1)e properly digested is so nuich poison to the 
systeiu. So the cramming process in the schools leads to 
the congestion of the heterogeneous matter, wliicli, if not 
positively harmful to the mind, is to sa\ the least of no 
lasting benefit. 

"The experience of all of us whose school days are long 
past, is suggestive upon the last point. If we ask ourselves 
how much of the so-called higher branches of our school 
studies we are able to remember even — let alone to apply — 
how meagre will be the quotient. 

"It has seemed to me that in the fixing of the schedule 
of studies and the selection of text books, the learned pro- 
fessors upon whom this duty devolves make the adjust- 
ment as if to suit their own mature capacities rather than 
those of their inexperienced pupils. The demand for these 
higher standards has this fallacy, that it proposes to do too 
much in to() short a period. The school life of today is 

16 



thus made too complex. We are in clanger of mistaking 
the gloss and the tinsel of superficiality for solid and 
serviceable achievements. The public school trenches too 
much upon the province of the higher academies and col- 
leges. It is difficult for the pupil of 50 years ago to 
recognize even the nomenclature of many of the branches 
taught today. How far indeed has the modern idea of the 
scope of the common school education removed from the 
standard set up by its founders. Said the Hon. Thomas 
H. Burrowes, the first Superintendent of common schools, 
in 1845: 'The object of the system and all the legislation 
relative to it, is to bestow the rudiments of a plain and 
useful education in the schools, at the common charge, 
and upon a footing of perfect equality upon the children 
of all the inhabitants of the State, without respect to class 
or degree.' Mark the emphasis upon the rudiments. Are 
they not now being too mucli lost sight of in the pursuit 
of higher grades? The task of education, it must be ad- 
mitted,, grows more difficult and complex as time advances. 
But the foundations — the essentials — must always remain 
the same. Unless the foundations are laid deep and broad 
the superstructure will always be insecure. Education can 
neither be sterilized nor diluted. Whether a pupil enters 
an institution of a higher grade or not, he should leave 
the public school with an education complete in itself in all 
that concerns the fundamentals. Much of the old-fashion- 
ed training it must be conceded was conventional and 
bookish merely. But it was robust and thorough, so far 
as it went; and this is its crowning merit. The scholar in 
the higher grades today ought to know everything that 
was taught his grandparents 50 years ago, and know it 
thoroughly, as well. If he is to mount successfully the 
higher steps of the hill of science, he must constantly re- 
trace those at the bottom. The General of the army must 
never forget the manual of arms. The beginner in music is 
not set to work upon symphonies and sonatas, and the 
finished performer must know all the notes at sight, and 
practice his scales daily. 

"The importance of the study of EngHsh cannot be over- 
rated. He who would be proficient in it must be able to 
read, write and speak it correctly. How many students 
who have left school do not possess the ability to express 
with accuracy and conciseness, orally or in writing, even 
a single train of thought. The study of the Latin and 

17 



Greek, in so far at least as it serves to acquire the etymol- 
ogy of our own language, is indispensable to the English 
scholar. Wide but carefully chosen reading — an acquaint- 
ance with some of the masterpieces of prose and verse — 
and systematic exercises in composition are important ad- 
juncts to literary taste and culture. 

"Much attention is now sought to be directed to man- 
ual training as a part of the public school curriculum. So 
zealous indeed have its advocates become in their claims 
for its recognition, that they are even prone to speak dis- 
paragingly of what they term mere mental culture in com- 
parison with it. Says one who combines high fiuictions of 
state with the regulation of the domestic economy of the 
people: 'Our school system is gravely defective in so far as 
it puts a premium^ upon mere literary training, and tends 
therefore to train the boy away from the farm and the 
workshop. Nothing is more needed than the best type of 
industrial school — the school for mechanical industries in 
the city, the school for practically teaching agriculture in 
the country.' Of what use, it is asked, that our schools 
turn out educated men, if they are not competent to earn 
their living? The idea has sprung out of the prevailing 
commercialism of the age in which we live. The answer is, 
that intellectual training is one thing and manual training is 
another. Both cannot be taught thoroughly in the limited I 
period of school life. Tlie public school is first and fore-_ 
most the forum for the training of the mind, a training 
vi'hich even the intelligent mechanic cannot slight or dis- 
pense with. Technical education with practical and useful 
results can only be acquired in the scientific institutions 
which teach it. To convert the class room into a carpenter 
shop or machine shop is, therefore, in my humble view, a 
waste of time, and a perversion of the principal design of 
common school instruction. In my day in the public 
schools manual training extended no farther than the whit- 
tling of the desks by the boys and the cutting out of paper 
dolls by the girls. In this elementary feature the pupils 
were self-instructed, and it was carried on not under the 
supervision of, the teacher, but in spite of it. How little 
does the pupil of 12 or 15 know what manual occupation he 
is best fitted for? How little does the teacher know, and 
what qualifications has he as mechanical instructor? How 
would the skilled workman regard the output of the student 
of manual training in the public schools? Would he recog- 

18 



nize him as a fellow craftsman and admit him to the 
'union?' The theory of m.anual training has not as yet, I 
believe, obtained much hold in the country schools. In the 
rural districts such training may indeed profitably be ap- 
plied to many departments of agriculture and domestic 
economy, but out of school hours and under the direction 
of the parents of the pupils. 

"There remains no time to dwell upon the high import- 
ance of moral as well as intellectual training in the public 
schools. Here is truly a wide field for the activities of 
educators and philanthropists. The most important end of 
education is character building. Technology is of little 
value in comparison with it. Under present day condi- 
tions the attention of instructors may well be specially 
directed to the relations of public school training to the 
development of the character of the individual pupil, to 
his training not only in morals, but in the knowledge also 
of the principles of civil government, and his preparation 
for the proper discharge of the duties of good citizenship. 

"But 1 am forgetting the due limitations of my paper in 
the immensity of the subject. In these commentaries upon 
common school education I only contend for what I believe 
to be safe and sane ideas upon this much discussed prob- 
lem. Without disparaging the great progress everywhere 
being made in the art of teaching I would not lose sight of 
fundamental principles, of perpetual importance in their 
application. 

"In conclusion I can but assure you that I have a full 
appreciation of the cares and perplexities of the conscien- 
tious teacher, and that for his or her calling I have the 
most profound respect. Let me but express the hope that 
you may never be weary of your work, though you often be 
weary in it; ever sustained and stimulated by a pervading 
sense of the importance of the interests committed to your 
charofe." 



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